beyond command and control

Managers in control?

In traditional command & control systems managers think that they need to control their people.

To do this they manage with procedures to tell people how to do things, use exhortations to encourage them to do it, and pay attention to output measures, inspections and audits to evaluate whether their people are doing as they should. Does this lead to control? Are such managers really in control of anything?

We have found that a fundamental first step in managing change is to help managers understand that such methods and measures are not, in fact, resulting in control. It is also the case that such methods and measures are often the causes of sub-optimisation; they result in making performance worse.